My Opinion on Kony2012
To start I would like to clearly state so there is absolutely no confusion. Kony is a very bad man who needs to be brought to justice or shot. Either way is fine. While I believe this needs to happen I do not support the Kony2012 campaign for a variety of reasons. I will try to explain everything fully and provide as much source material as I can but this subject is much more complicated than the Kony Video makes it out to be. It would literally take a text book to express everything on this one subject.
I would like to state that this isn’t some hipster “I go against the flow” kind of position. I honestly cannot support this organizations cause. But as I will repeat so that it is understood. I am in no way pro Kony. That would be ridiculous and stupid.
My first opinion of the Kony2012 campaign was to be critical (as in thinking critically, not hating on) so I researched the organization and Kony himself. I used a website called Charity Navigator to research Invisible Children. If you don’t know Charity Navigator is a group that collects financial data about different charities and rates them on a scale of 1-4 on a number of subjects. Charity Navigator gave Invisible Children a 2 for their accountability. This to me was distressing. Invisible Children has since released a statement about this stating that it is because of the number of Board Members they have. I do not understand how this is all calculated so I was willing to give Invisible Children the benefit of the doubt.
With that out of the way I could see myself supporting their campaign. But after looking into Kony and his army I’ve found the situation to be far more complicated than Invisible Children’s film made it out to be (as is often the case). The film gives the feeling that if we rally together and spread the word that we want to bring Kony to justice that we can end his reign of terror. But in reality it is not this simple.
The video like to belittle what effort the US has made previously to capture Kony. Have we done as much as the campaign calls for? No. But we weren’t sitting around waiting for him to turn himself in. We’ve been trying since 2009 and every time we try and fail Kony retaliates by have his army march into villages and massacre the populace.
The film also tells you outright that if we capture Kony all the children can go home and it’s a happy ending. But that’s not the way it works. Something the film doesn’t tell you is that Kony claims that he is a prophet of God. Whether he actually believes this or is just using it as a ploy is not known. But being that he claims that he is a Prophet, many people who are in his army are there because they believe in him and his cause. Not because of fear. Yes there are children and people trapped in fear but not all. Many of the more powerful group members are true believers in Kony.
And as many may have heard of Stockholm syndrome. A version of this is happening to the children who are captured. Not only do some not want to leave. Because they are so young their minds have warped to believing that they must kill for this man and they must capture more people. Invisible Children have stated their intention to help free these children’s minds but it is not an overnight thing where they get to see their families again. The film even states that many of the children are forced to kill their own families.
Now some of this may have seemed like I’m actually advocating this campaign. But I just needed to provide some background knowledge so that everyone can understand the problem. Because as I said it is immensely complex and I’m sure I will forget something so forgive me in advance.
The first issue I have is with the idea of capturing Kony and then all the children are free. Like I mention before Kony has many followers who are true believers. If Kony were captured one of his followers would simply take up his cause and replace him and continue committing the same atrocities that he is committing. Would the LRA (which stands for the Lord’s Resistance Army in case you didn’t know) be weakened by this change in leadership? Yes of course but they would not disappear. Think of al-Qaeda. After we killed Osama bin laden they were weakened but they did not disappear. We tend to forget this because they are no longer actively attacking us at home. This has more to do with our tighter security than with Osama’s death. Was that important? Yes but it did not end the overall problem.
Next is Invisible Children’s stated intent to support the Ugandan militaries attempt to track Kony down. The problem has a few aspects.
First being that Kony, by their own admission, hasn’t been in Uganda since 2006. So they are advocating the Ugandan militaries invasion of other countries to find this man. In all countries that is an immediate Act of War no matter the reason behind it. Would you like Uganda’s military to invade the United States with the only purpose of finding Kony? I don’t think they are by any means advocating this kind of action but they haven’t done much to explain how funding the Ugandan militaries search will help when Kony is in a different country.
Second is the fact that the Ugandan military has been suspected of and had allegations of the very things that Kony has done. Child soldiers, sex slaves, torture. How is that any better than Kony? I see it as worse. Kony is a rebel leader. While the Ugandan military is a government body. They should have some accountability but they have been left to do their own thing as much as Kony has.
My next point brings me to the issue of setting the date of 2012. The campaign demands the capture of Kony by end of year 2012. That is ten months from now. While this is a noble goal it is unfortunately completely unrealistic. Many people will see that as negative or pessimistic but it’s just the way of the world.
Osama bin laden was a key figure in orchestrating the 9/11 attacks in 2001. We began hunting him almost immediately. Not just the United States. Most of our allies sent support as well trying to find this one man. And we searched nonstop no matter what the opinions of the world. We would not rest until we found this one man. He wasn’t found until last May. That is a 10 year nonstop manhunt. If that kind of a manhunt took 10 years I don’t see how this could be accomplished in 10 months. Kony currently occupies an area larger the Osama bin laden had access to. And while there are plenty of places to hide in the desert, there are far more places where Kony is hiding. He could easily walk into the jungle one day and be gone for years before he’s seen again.
Having said all that my point is that setting the goal end of year 2012 is dangerous to the campaign itself. Because the odds of meeting that goal are unbelievably slim. Do I wish that it would happen? Of course I do. But if they hadn’t given a set in stone goal they could just keep reviving interest in this issue. But giving that date means that if 2012 comes and goes and Kony is still at large it is going to be seen as a failure. No matter the public’s opinion on the issue that failure will cause people to give up support. Not because they no longer care. But because they believe that their chance to do something is gone. And if Invisible Children tries to renew interest after that happens people are going to have a hard to forgetting that failure. Then people begin to doubt. If not Kony2012 how about Kony2013 or Kony2014. How long can the public be made to care before they give up?
That last segment was a bit long winded but necessary. If you didn’t understand something in there I encourage you to reread it.
As I stated in the beginning I think Kony is an absolutely horrible man and I think that raising awareness about him is a very good thing. But I cannot support this campaign because the issue is far more complicated than simply capturing one man. I encourage all of you to go and do your own research into the topic and make your decision. As you should with all topics and issues you come across in the modern world. You can’t just see one piece of the subject and go off half cocked.
Do some research. With modern technology all I’m asking is that you push a few buttons and read. It’s not that complicated or difficult. If you still want to support the Kony2012 campaign afterward I have no problem with that. But if your only reason for supporting the campaign is because you watched one Youtube video then you can’t truly understand what you campaigning for.
I will look back over this tomorrow and if I misstated something or made an error I will correct it. I’m not above admitting that I may be wrong but after my research I don’t think that I am. I also understand this issue is ridiculously complicated.
I mentioned at the top of this that I would link sources but I just closed my browser after writing 1600 words in an hour and a half so I will supply those sometime tomorrow. I’m going to bed now
Also before I forget to mention. Along the same lines as the 10 year manhunt for Osama bin laden is the search for Josef Mengele (Note to self. Do NOT name your child Joseph or any variation)
If you don’t know Mengele was the guy that experimented on holocaust victims and did acts of evil that would probably make Kony cringe. In 1944 the Allies listed Mengele as a War Criminal and began their search for him. And they finally found him. 34 years later in South America after he died of a stroke/drowning while taking a leisurely swim in the Atlantic Ocean. That example is quite sad but still relevant.
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